for Christians working in education

UN - children turning up at UK schools hungry.

The costs of austerity in the UK have fallen “disproportionately” on children, leaving them hungry at school and forcing teachers to collect food and send it home with their pupils, according to a United Nations poverty expert.

Professor Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, recently spent two weeks in the UK. He visited a primary school, several community groups, a food bank and other public services.

In his damning report, Alston warned that children are “showing up at school with empty stomachs, and schools are collecting food on an ad hoc basis and sending it home because teachers know that their students will otherwise go hungry”.